Chasing Down Illegal Workers Costs America $1.5 Trillion

The latest research from the Center for American Progress finds that the U.S. could reap $1.5 trillion in economic benefits by legalizing its vast population of unauthorized workers.

Essentially, they argue that the costs of enforcing a broken system are massive, and do nothing in the long-term. Thus legalize them.

CAP: The current enforcement-only approach to unauthorized immigration is not cost effec- tive and has not deterred unauthorized immigrants from coming to the United States when jobs are available. Rather, enforcement-only policies have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars while pushing unauthorized migration further underground. And these policies have produced a host of unintended consequences: more deaths among border crossers, greater demand for people smugglers, less "circular migration" in favor of more "permanent settlement" among unauthorized immigrants, and further depressed wages in low-wage labor markets.

Significant declines in unauthorized immigration have historically occurred only during downturns in the U.S. economy when U.S. labor demand is damp- ened. And declining birth rates in Mexico will likely accomplish what tens of billions of dollars in border enforcement clearly have not: a reduction in the supply of migrants from Mexico who are available for jobs in the United States.